Diradour should take a lesson in geography
Published: September 23, 2009
Updated: September 23, 2009
Residing in Culpeper, which is, indeed, located in Congressman Eric Cantor’s Seventh Congressional District, I’ve noted that Charlie Diradour, a wealthy Richmond developer, has thrown his hat in the ring to challenge Congressman Cantor in next year’s election.
Mr. Diradour unapologetically admits that he doesn’t live in the Seventh District, and that he has no intention of moving, as it is not a requirement for office.
Is this the best the Democrats can do? If so, it is embarrassing. One can’t even legitimately call him a carpetbagger, since he didn’t move before announcing his campaign!
I also see that Mr. Diradour says that, yes, he does live outside of the district, but he lives “in a community being underserved by Eric Cantor.” I’d say that sounds about right, considering the community in which he lives, and the surrounding neighborhoods, are not in Congressman Cantor’s district!
If he believes his community is being underserved, I suggest he contact his representative, Congressman Bobby Scott.
Barbara Taylor
Culpeper
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Reader Reactions
Mr. S.- It is entirely your right to judge someone solely by their address. I prefer to look at the entire package of the person and what they can do to represent my interests. But that’s just me.
I never said that you called me names. I said you “resort to name calling”. Example: “You have done nothing more than use what I have come to recognize as a typical liberal democrat argument method.“
Technically that may not be name-calling as you weren’t referring to me personally but to my arguments. But the difference is a small matter of semantics.
If you had simply addressed the issue (as you did in your subsequent post) that would have been better.
You still have said nothing about what Mr. Cantor has done for the residents of Culpeper. Is that too difficult? How many times has he come to Culpeper during his 9 years…other than a few campaign stops?
rjma -
The difference is quite simple.
It may not make any difference to you, but Mr. Cantor lives in the 7th congressional district and Mr. Diradour does not. To me that is all the difference in the world. I have no control over the size and shape of the various congressional districts, but I DO control my own vote, and I will insist that any person for whom I vote actually live in my district.
It is legal in Virginia for Mr. Diradour to offer himself for election and, if elected, “represent” a district of which he is not a resident. However, that does not make it advisable, wise, honorable or “right”. You may be willing to vote for a non-resident so long as he has your beloved “D” next to his name and can maybe get rid of “big , bad, evil, Eric Cantor”, but I am not. By that same token, if Mr. Cantor were to move outside the 7th district and he did not have enough of a sense of honor to resign his position, then he would NOT get my vote in any subsequent election.
Yes, Mr. Cantor travels way too much and he does not do as good a job representing the 7th district as I would like (he REALLY irritated me when he supported and voted for “Bailout #1”). But, Ms. Taylor’s letter was primarily about Mr. Diradour’s foolishness, so that is what I addressed.
Like you, I am concerned and irritated when I perceive that a politician who is sworn to represent me is spending inordinate amounts of time travelling to exotic places and engaging in activities not related to representing me (personal vacations excepted, of course). I do not care whether such a politician has an “R”, “D”, “I”, “L” or any other letter their name. I hold them all to the same standard. In fact, I can think of at least one other Virginia politician whose extra-curricular activities and travels positively make Mr. Cantor look like a homebody. Will you offer the same criticism you leveled at Mr. Cantor at that individual?
Finally, I will appreciate it if you will tell me what “name” I called you, other than “rjma”. If you prefer “Mr. Legge”, then in the future I will be happy to refer to you by that moniker rather than your chosen screen name.
Mr. Diradour, like the rest of the Commonwealth and the rest of the country, is under-served by the presence of Rep. Cantor in the U.S. House of Representatives - his mendacity and lack of compassion combined with his leadership position is absurd.
If he believes his community is being underserved, I suggest he contact his representative, Congressman Bobby Scott….. Or become a ‘community organizer and join ACORN.
Wayne- Thanks for clearing up where that quote came from. I wish Ms. Taylor had done so. This is from a RTD article by Olympia Meola ““I live 10 blocks outside the district, but I live in a community that’s being underserved by Eric Cantor,“ Diradour said.“
Mr. Diradour could have been more specific, but the term “community” is not so easily defined. “Community” can easily refer to something more than 10 blocks away. But I can’t blame you and others for trying to make a big issue out of semantics. After all, Mr. Diradour is such a big threat to Mr. Cantor.
You instead resort to name calling. I made what I think was a reasonable counter argument suggesting that whether Mr. Cantor is a mile or two closer to Culpeper does not give him any distinct advantage in representing Culpeper. If I’m wrong about that perhaps you can provide some examples about how his relative proximity serves the interest of Culpeper?
But I can understand why you probably want to stick to semantics, rather than talk about Aspen.
“Go after”? How is trying to identify the writer as more than just a typical constituent “going after” them?
rjma: You have failed completely to address the issue at hand.
You have done nothing more than use what I have come to recognize as a typical liberal democrat argument method. Instead of making a logical counter-argument to a statement or statements, you “go after” the person making the statement or argument.
The statements attributed to Mr. Diradour were recently published in this very newspaper. Mr. Diradour, as far as I have been able to determine, has not subsequently complained of being misquoted. Therefore, it is reasonable to state that Mr. Diradour does not live in the 7th congressional district AND that he made the statement that his community is “underserved” by Mr. Cantor.
Frankly, I expected better from you, sir. You are usually at least a little bit more fair and reasonable than that.
What should be embarrassing is attributing quotes to someone with no citation.
Perhaps you can explain how living 80 miles from Culpeper instead of 79 miles translates into better representation for Culpeper citizens?
And even if Cantor does live 1 mile closer (and I’m not even certain he does actually live closer as the districts are so convoluted), it doesn’t really make much difference as Eric spends so much of his time in far-flung places like Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Aspen, Miami and Israel.
And Barbara, aren’t you the same Barbara C. Taylor who has earned over $200,000 working for Eric?
I agree with the premise “Is this the best the Democrats can do?“ In reality though I think the bottom line is the Democratic Party feels they have a snowballs chance of defeating Cantor, especially with all of his parroting on the national scene. In reality this is a no win situation for the Democrats. If you commit resources and barely lose, is it really any different than committing little to none and getting blown out.
Ms. Taylor; I, for one, agree with you completely!
I especially associate myself with your closing comment; “If he believes his community is being underserved, I suggest he contact his representative, Congressman Bobby Scott”.
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